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IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From Mid 18th to Mid 19th Century - Administration and Law

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From Mid 18th to Mid 19th Century

Administration and Law

Structure

24.0 Objectives
24.1 lntroduction
24.2 The Background
24.2.1 British Thinking on Administration
24.2.2 British Interests
24.3 institutional Framework
24.3.1 Judicial System
24.3.2 Administrat~ve System
24.3.3 Extent of Indian Part~cipation
24.4 Let Us Sum Up
24.5 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

24.0 OBJECTIVES

In the previous Unit (No 23) you got a summary of the const~tutional provisions
which were made by the British rulers in lndia from 1717 till the end of company's
rule. This Unit will take the story further and talk about how the structure of
administration and judiciary were gradually being built up by the British. This would
involve looking at the ideological orientation and specific requirements of the rulers
on the one hand, and the various changes and innovations made in the field of
administration, on the other. In this Unit you will study:

various ideas and elements that went into the making of the British administrative policy
the institutional framework that evolved in accordance with that policy, and
an assessment of the administrative and judicial system introduced by the British in India.

24.1 INTRODUCTION

You have seen in the earlier Units how the British gradually controlled the entire
country through a series of conquests. The East lndia Company was transformed
from b mere commercial body into a political force. Mere conquests could not
possibly hold the empire together for a long time. It had to be sustained by evolving
a comprehensive system of administration. This Unit, is therefore, concerned
exclusively with ideas and institutions. We discuss the British ideas on how to govern
India, and than go on to describe thckind of administrative institutions which were
evolved in order to govern and control India.